Rolled Back to the Old ET

Thank you Baron. It takes a real leader to admit a mistake. You have guided this site with great insight and judgment for 15 years or so, maybe more. I first started on the site when you were selling Colographic video cards here. In all that time, this is the only misstep I can recall. Like a good trader, you quickly cut your one bad trade short.

I've been away and missed much of the debate on the new site, but let me echo what some of the other oldtimers said. ET has always had the most brilliantly useable interface of any message board. It was (is) a model of how a site should look and feel. Sadly, the new version fell short. Personally, I felt the avatars looked juvernile and detracted from the professional look of the site. There was way too much other stuff going on as well. Leave that crap to Facebook, et al. Keep ET lean and mean.

A crucial feature of ET is the ability to scan recent threads under each forum from the forum page. Many of us like to do a quick scan of what's happening on the site from that page. We are just not going to take the time to click on each forum heading if the recent threads are not visible.

For now at least, life can return to normal.
 
Quote from Tsing Tao:

I liked the new format. Not surprising that many did not, though. Change is tough for lots of folks to adapt to.
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agree with you.

but like the other poster said, its better to roll out new features in phases as opposed to all at once. then you can manage the change better and its not a shock to the meat and potato folks.


baron, you should bring back the "alerts" function if you can as perhaps 1 new feature, then roll in other stuff 1x1 later on
 
Okay, brother Baron the consensus is in...
Put the new version into place, remove the avatars, let 'em cruise the first five posts on the forums page if it makes 'em feel good.
Win/win.

At any rate, this long timer remains whichever way you deem best.
I know you did a lot of work implementing the new version.
Hmmm...there I go having to use my "[/]" keys again.
Glad I didn't have them removed from my keyboard.
 
Quote from Baron:

I tried so hard to move us forward, by my effort didn't work out like I hoped, so I fell short, and for that I'm truly sorry.
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i am deeply saddened by the events of the past week. im shaken, im aggravated, and truly on edge and am not sure i can continue with this site.

no, jking. really, its no big deal. lol. :p
 
Quote from tradenstuff:

i am deeply saddened by the events of the past week. im shaken, im aggravated, and truly on edge and am not sure i can continue with this site.

no, jking. really, its no big deal. lol. :p
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Like feature was cool. I want to like this post, but can't. LOL.

Another thing - smilies in the new version were better.
 
Quote from AAAintheBeltway:

Thank you Baron. It takes a real leader to admit a mistake. You have guided this site with great insight and judgment for 15 years or so, maybe more. I first started on the site when you were selling Colographic video cards here. In all that time, this is the only misstep I can recall. Like a good trader, you quickly cut your one bad trade short.

I've been away and missed much of the debate on the new site, but let me echo what some of the other oldtimers said. ET has always had the most brilliantly useable interface of any message board. It was (is) a model of how a site should look and feel. Sadly, the new version fell short. Personally, I felt the avatars looked juvernile and detracted from the professional look of the site. There was way too much other stuff going on as well. Leave that crap to Facebook, et al. Keep ET lean and mean.

A crucial feature of ET is the ability to scan recent threads under each forum from the forum page. Many of us like to do a quick scan of what's happening on the site from that page. We are just not going to take the time to click on each forum heading if the recent threads are not visible.

For now at least, life can return to normal.
More...

Hi Baron.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE OLD FORMAT IS BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I did not like the new site, and I can very easily adopt to new things, so being new is never an issue for me.

Totally agree with above points. The old, "current" site is awesome. Very professional, easy to read without any distractions.

Also, new search was not working properly, especially in titles with short 3 characters strings.

If you ever decide to roll out a new beta, let us know, and many of us will help in testing.

Regards,
redduke
 
Quote from gmst:

Like feature was cool. I want to like this post, but can't. LOL.

Another thing - smilies in the new version were better.
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Like.:p
 
Quote from Baron:

Due to the negative feedback about the new version of ET that appeared last week, and unexpected software problems from third party vendors that was completely out of my control, I had no choice but to roll back to the old ET for the time being. I discovered that the importing software I acquired to transfer data from the old message board to the new one had a critical bug, which caused a ton of threads and posts to vanish on the new site.

And honestly, once I did the upgrade, I was shocked at how many members expressed how they loved the old ET just like it was.

Yes, I want to upgrade the site eventually, but I want to do it in a way that's a much softer rollout next time, with better explanation in advance of the changes and new features to come, so it's not so much of a shock factor.

The biggest downside to this debacle means that last week's posts went into a black hole. There's no point in me even trying to stitch that content back into this format because it would just cause way more downtime and aggravation for all of us. The bright side of course is that one week is nothing compared to the 1 million+ thread and posts I discovered that were missing on the site upgrade (those are all in tact on this site now).

This has been the toughest month of my life... period. I kid you not when I say that I have slept about one night for every three days this past month trying to get this migration done. Considering the outcome, I regret having to put you guys (and my family) through this. ET is my life and I appreciate every one of you who takes the time to participate here. Always have. I tried so hard to move us forward, by my effort didn't work out like I hoped, so I fell short, and for that I'm truly sorry.
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Thanks Baron.
The older format is much much better IMHO
 
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